External review of operations presented to Yorkton Council

YORKTON - The final report of an operational review of some aspects of the City of Yorkton operations was presented to the regular meeting of Yorkton Council Feb. 26.

“In March of 2023 Yorkton City Council made the decision to engage an independent organization to provide breadth from work with other municipalities to assist us with identifying operational savings that could be re-invested in the City’s Capital Program or other initiatives,” explained Michael Eger – Acting City Manager, with the city reading from a report prepared by Mayor Mitch Hippsley.

A steering committee was formed consisting of Councillor Darcy Zaharia, Councillor Dustin Brears and Mayor Mitch Hippsley, along with members of Administration to provide information to MNP.

Zaharia noted that the process was a positive one in the sense of “fresh eyes to look at operations.”

MNP was engaged to complete this project with attention given to the following specific areas:

* Data Analytics

* Fleet

* Procurement

* General Operational Efficiencies

A key priority for Council was to understand how the City of Yorkton compares to other similar sized regional centres in Saskatchewan and across the prairies, said Egers.

According to the Executive Summary of the MNP report the firm’s “overall assessment is that the City of Yorkton is very competitive and provides strong value for its citizens and ratepayers.”

This conclusion has been reached by focusing on the following:

* Corporate level comparisons in terms of budgets and resources;

* A review of Yorkton’s Gallagher Centre compared to other recreational facilities;

* An assessment of the public works functions integrated at the City’s Operations Centre plus

* An analysis of the City’s procurement policies and expenditures.

However, Councillor Chris Wyatt was unhappy that the report presented at the meeting had changes from one they had seen behind closed doors in January – the public one missing the numbers comparing staff levels between Yorkton and similar cities in the province.

Craig Kutarna Gates with MNP said that information was removed from the document being made public because other cities had requested the staffing numbers they had provided not be made public.

“I was fully aware of it (the deletion of the data). I totally approved it,” said Mayor Mitch Hippsley.

Wyatt was not pleased.

“When you make a decision like that, let Council know,” he said.

Wyatt also suggested the missing information was important in terms of comparing staff levels, and that it was now out of the report “is a red flag to me,” he said.

“I can understand your feeling,” said Hippsley, reiterating the deletion was at the request of the other municipalities providing data. He added “City Council (Yorkton) gets to keep the information.”

Wyatt said he could not accept the report as presented with the material missing.

Zaharia said while he agreed with Wyatt’s concern, the report was still worth accepting so it would be available to the public.

“I’m totally in favour of getting this out to the public,” echoed Coun. Brears.

“I’m in favour of putting this out to the public,” agreed Coun. Randy Goulden.

In terms of possible savings the MNP report outlines the potential for an estimated $2,045,000 to $3,045,000 in savings, new revenues or productivity improvements.

The lion’s share of the potential saving -- $1 - $1.2 million – is suggested to potentially realized by exploring 10 hour shifts over four days as opposed to the more tradition eight hours and five day work week.

The report also suggests up to $300,000 in added revenue by maximizing use at the Gallager Centre noting “every square footage is a revenue generator” and looking at new options such as gift cards, arcade and indoor playground.

It was also suggested redefining internal fleet management practices could net the city $300-$400K.

The $80,000 fee for the consultation process came from the city's 'Rainy Day Fund'.